Brandon Moreno reacts to Merab Dvalishvili unfurling the Mexican flag in Henry Cejudo's presence

Merab Dvalishvili authored one of the most memorable moments of the UFC 298 pre-fight conference by taunting opponent Henry Cejudo, who does not claim his Mexican heritage, by unfurling the Mexican flag. This drew the approval of ex-flyweight champion Brandon Moreno.

ESPN MMA shared a photo collage of the incident on its Instagram page, which drew Moreno to its comment section. The latter responded by posting three emojis of Mexico's flag in support of Dvalishvili's gesture.

Moreno made history back at UFC 263, when he became the first Mexican UFC champion by dethroning Deiveison Figueiredo as the flyweight titleholder. Besides representing Mexico at the championship level, Moreno also has something of a feud with Cejudo after the two former friends and training partners fell out.

Brandon Moreno reacts to Merab Dvalishvili unfurling the Mexican flag

Meanwhile, Dvalishvili is scheduled to take on Cejudo at UFC 298 in a fight with title contention in sight. The winner will almost certainly be the next title challenger to whoever emerges as the UFC bantamweight champion at UFC 299, where Sean O'Malley will defend his divisional strap against Marlon 'Chito' Vera.

Cejudo has been adamant that a loss to Dvalishvili would send him back into retirement, as he is not in the UFC merely to compete. He wants to become a champion again. Meanwhile, this is the first time that Dvalishvili is in actual title contention, as he previously pushed his championship dreams to the background.

This was due to his close friendship with Aljamain Sterling, who recently reigned over the bantamweight division as its longtime champion.

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Merab Dvalishvili has beaten two UFC champions

Merab Dvalishvili is on a lengthy win streak at bantamweight, and while he is yet to fight for the title, he has actually beaten two former UFC champions. He first took on legendary former UFC featherweight titleholder José Aldo at UFC 278, outworking the Brazilian great en route to a dominant unanimous decision win.

Aldo retired thereafter. Following his triumph over one of the all-time greats, 'The Machine' faced ex-bantamweight champion Petr Yan, who he outworked in similar fashion for another dominant unanimous decision win. The win is also notable for Dvalishvili breaking the record for most takedowns ever scored in a single fight.